Online Store Obligations in Türkiye: The Seller Compliance File

المسافر · Dec 8, 2025

Online Store Obligations in Türkiye: The Seller Compliance File
From business identity to customer rights and evidence of fulfillment

Organize business responsibilities before accepting public orders.

A polished page and an activated payment button are insufficient to launch a store confidently. You need to know who sells, who receives funds, how invoices are issued, what customers are promised and who acts when a parcel is late or a product returns. This guide organizes these questions into a file a small-store owner can use with an accountant, developer and payment provider.

The scope is physical products sold to consumers in Türkiye through an independent store or marketplace. Services, digital products, business-to-business sales and exports need additional detail. The practical goal is clear documents, an identified owner for each procedure, and evidence of order events rather than memory or scattered conversations.

Establish the seller identity customers see

Start with the legal business name, beyond the marketing name. Identify who sells, invoices and receives customer notices, then match this with the bank account, payment contract and marketplace account. Brand and company names may differ; their connection should be understandable and documents consistent with the party responsible for sales.

For an independent site, organize contact details, trading name, address and relevant registration information, including a KEP address where required. Marketplace seller spaces have their own information requirements based on seller status. Do not copy a friend's company details while collecting funds in another person's name. That mismatch may emerge during payment, invoice or complaint review.

Create an internal business sheet containing the official name, identifier, address, representative and contact method. Assign one owner to update it when the address or manager changes, avoiding old contact-page details alongside a new shipping contract.

Separate foreign ownership, work rights and account acceptance

For a foreign founder, distinguish four matters: ownership, actual work, authorized representation, and acceptance by the platform, bank or payment provider. Company establishment does not automatically grant work authorization, and residence alone does not generally give foreigners the right to work. Marketplace acceptance also does not establish completion of every legal matter.

Define each role before launch: Who manages inside Türkiye? Who signs contracts? Who handles support and packing? Does the founder perform work requiring authorization or qualifying for an exemption? Resolve these from actual circumstances and documents, beyond nationality or a formation company's advertisement.

Prepare a short role description and record who verified it. When appointing a representative, specify management, signature and account authority. Do not put business accounts in someone's name merely because they can pass registration; easy access does not resolve company responsibilities.

Define the sales channel before its obligations

Record where orders are actually created: website, app, domestic marketplace, foreign marketplace or direct messages. A social advertisement alone does not establish where the contract forms. Customers may move from an ad to an independent site, which must be assessed as a sales channel itself.

ETBİS registration is required before activity in specified cases, including sales in the seller's own electronic environment. Selling exclusively through a domestic marketplace does not carry the same requirement, while a special case applies to Türkiye-based sellers using overseas intermediaries. A marketplace's table does not replace identifying your business's position.

Allocate tasks between yourself and the channel through its contract and settings: Who displays information? Who collects payment? Where do withdrawal requests arrive? Even with a ready-made interface, accurate product descriptions and complaint follow-up remain operating responsibilities. Retain the contract and store settings rather than just the registration page.

File	Key question	Required output
Business identity	Who is the legal seller?	Matching contracts and invoice details
Sales channel	Where is the order created?	Website, marketplace and app map
Foreign person's status	Who works and manages in Türkiye?	Documented permit or exemption position
Financial acceptance	Who receives the payout?	Account and settlement in the appropriate entity's name

Prepare information provided before payment

Show what customers need before committing: product characteristics, total price, delivery costs, seller identity, fulfillment arrangements and relevant rights. Keep this consistent with product pages, ads and cart; an advertisement should not promise rapid delivery while confirmation states a different date.

Test mobile particularly. Open a product with variants, change color or size and check price, photo and stock updates. At confirmation, customers should be able to identify and correct address or quantity errors. Explain order steps in understandable language and record how customers access their information afterward.

Do not hide conditions in a long file accessible only after payment. Keep evidence of what was shown, what was accepted and when, with document version numbers. This matters when pricing, delivery policy or descriptions change, linking orders to their actual terms.

Link product, supplier and invoice data in one file.

Turn consumer rights into working procedures

In distance contracts, consumers generally have fourteen days to withdraw, subject to specified exceptions. Withdrawal from an otherwise satisfactory purchase differs from defective-goods rights. Do not use a blanket rule that every opened product is nonreturnable, or assume “No refunds” cancels statutory rights.

Create separate service workflows for withdrawal requests and defect complaints. Give each a reference, receipt date, documents, next step and owner. Explain submission methods, return address and notification channel. Exceptions, return costs and refund timing require a policy compatible with the product and current rules.

Test the process before selling. Does notice reach the right person? Is it linked to invoices and payments? Can staff track the return parcel? If these are unknown, an attractive policy page is insufficient. Retain necessary photos and correspondence without requesting data unnecessary for the review.

Agree the invoice cycle with your accountant

Determine the appropriate invoicing system for your business and customer type before collecting funds. e-Fatura and e-Arşiv are more than store-designed PDFs; issuance, retention and correction depend on the system and taxpayer category. GİB's 2026 guidance distinguishes taxpayer groups, so do not apply one monetary threshold to every store.

Ask the accountant for a practical sheet: When is the sales document created? How do order and invoice numbers connect? What happens with cancellation before shipping or returns afterward? Which marketplace or provider reports are retained? Test complete and canceled orders rather than waiting until month-end to discover recurring faults.

Separate accounting from the revenue screen. A marketplace may show gross sales but pay after deductions and adjustments; refunds may occur in another period. Correct linkage starts with each order, then aggregates to period statements, rather than treating a bank transfer as an invoice for everything that happened.

Order stage	Document or record	Who performs it?
Sale confirmation	Order number and displayed terms	Store system
Document issuance	Invoice under the taxpayer's system	Business and accountant
Delivery	Waybill, tracking and delivery evidence	Operations and carrier
Cancellation or return	Reason and financial procedure linked to the original	Support and accountant
Settlement	Collection and deduction statement	Accounts owner

Collect only data needed for the order

List data entering the store: name, address, phone, correspondence and order history. Define each purpose, processing basis and recipients. KVKK provides different processing grounds; explicit consent is not automatically the answer for every operation necessary to fulfill an order or legal duty.

Provide an understandable privacy notice, separate from consent where needed. The 2025 KVKK decision concerning verification codes emphasizes avoiding misleading combinations of different actions, such as purchase completion and marketing consent. Do not tell customers they must accept advertising to receive their products.

Review employee, plugin and external-service permissions. Packing staff need delivery details but not exports of all customer records. Organize backups, passwords, offboarding and retention/deletion schedules according to purpose and obligations. For services outside Türkiye, assess transfers under current rules.

Separate service messages from advertising

Send confirmations and shipping updates through a clear service workflow; keep commercial campaigns in a separate consent and unsubscribe process. Do not turn every order-related phone number into an advertising list or automatically add promotional content to operational messages while assuming they remain service messages.

Manage commercial-consent records, permitted channels and refusal procedures under applicable rules and IYS. Operationally, know consent's source, time and contents, stop sending to those who refuse and retain evidence when asked. General acceptance of store terms does not cover every marketing purpose.

Test subscription and unsubscription yourself. Subscribe on mobile, unsubscribe and verify the state reaches messaging tools. If lists sit with staff, an email service and a messaging tool, define one authoritative status source. An unsubscribe button is useless if an old list still sends the next campaign.

Test the whole order before declaring the store ready.

Know your products and safety responsibilities

Retain supplier identity, invoices, specifications, instructions and traceability. Electrical goods, food and cosmetics have different requirements from simple products. Packaging photos or a supplier's “Permitted” claim do not replace identifying category rules.

The regulation supervising remotely offered products took effect in April 2025, and the ministry published classification guidance assisting advertisement information. Make identification, warnings and required product information part of listing preparation, then review the actual category. Do not claim conformity marks or approvals unsupported by product documentation.

Create a suspected-safety procedure: pause listings when needed, isolate affected stock, identify recipient orders and contact the supplier and relevant authority. Link purchase batches to orders to identify affected customers. Pooling stock under a generic name without batches weakens your response to post-sale problems.

Risk area	Seller check	Evidence in the file
Product description	Dimensions, material and function	Matching specification and photo
Safety	Category requirements and warnings	Appropriate documents and instructions
Brand	Right to use and sell	Invoices and authorization where needed
Traceability	Supplier, batch and orders	Purchase–stock–sale linkage
Problem	Who pauses the listing and follows up?	Owner and written procedure

⁦⁩ Assemble files without duplication or conflict

Create a business folder and one per order, with appropriate access. Business files contain contracts, details, policy versions and operating plans; order files combine the purchased offer, confirmation, invoice, payment, delivery and complaints. Do not send every document to every employee merely to simplify searching.

Use consistent names and clear version dates. When policies change, retain earlier versions connected to old orders so you can establish what was shown then. Agree retention periods with specialists; accounting documents, marketing consent and analytical copies do not necessarily serve the same purpose.

Establish escalation beyond staff authority, such as invoice disputes, safety issues and personal-data inquiries. Staff record events and refer them instead of promising actions they cannot implement. The file becomes a tool for resolving orders rather than an unused growing archive.

⁦⁩ Test readiness before opening publicly

Run a full order with appropriate test data, then cases involving an address error, cancellation and return. Reading pages is insufficient; observe state changes between store, payment, invoice and shipping. Check mobile, Turkish and customer messages, ensuring charges are clear before confirmation.

Classify findings as launch blockers, operating problems or later improvements. Inability to refund, incorrect seller identity or products without suitable documentation require correction before launch. Extra-image changes can wait once descriptions and fundamental rights are correct. This prevents visual details consuming time while material faults remain.

Give every check evidence, an implementer's name and date. When expanding or adding channels, repeat affected tests: order creation, information, collection and documents. Old settings do not automatically transfer to a new system even under the same trading name.

Launch test	Required success	Status
Seller identity	Pages and contracts match	Recorded by the owner
Mobile order	Correct errors before payment	Pass or repair
Invoice and collection	Order linked to document	Pass or repair
Withdrawal and return	Notice received and procedure executed	Pass or repair
Data and marketing	Separate purposes and consents	Pass or repair

⁦⁩ Use a short launch-decision checklist

First ask: Can I explain seller identity, product terms, price and delivery to a customer who does not know me? Then: Can a small team implement and document that explanation? If the page says yes but operations say no, repair the store before increasing traffic.

Business information matches.

Channel and ETBİS position are defined.

The status of people working in Türkiye is resolved.

Consumer policies can be implemented.

Invoices and settlement were tested.

Data and marketing are separate.

Product documentation and traceability exist.

Start with specialist questions, then turn answers into store tasks. The accountant determines accounting arrangements, legal specialists assist with foreign-person status or complex contracts, and developers implement agreed flows. Retain a decision for each item rather than simply saying “The company is ready.” When goods return or customers ask about rights, staff should have a clear step, accountable person and evidence of implementation.

Does domestic-marketplace selling remove all store obligations?
No. Different ETBİS registration treatment does not remove invoicing, consumer-rights, data or product-safety obligations.

Is a verification code enough to accept marketing messages?
Do not misleadingly combine it with purchase completion; make the purpose clear and required consent separate and optional.

Does one invoicing rule apply to every store in 2026?
No. Identify taxpayer category and customer status with the accountant, then apply the appropriate invoicing system.

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Starting an Online Store in Türkiye: From Idea to First Order

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KVKK for Turkish Online Stores: Data, Cookies and Consent

Marketing Messages in Türkiye: IYS, Consent and Opt-Outs

Online Store Invoices in Türkiye: E-Invoices, Taxes and Withholding

Shipping and Return Policies in Türkiye: Rights and Practical Procedures

Refunds and Chargebacks in Türkiye: The Merchant Evidence File

ETBIS in Türkiye: Registration and Reporting for Online Sellers

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